


Another Day

by wisdomofme



Series: FT Angst Week 2015 [5]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, FTAngstWeek, FTAngstWeek2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-10 23:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4412312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisdomofme/pseuds/wisdomofme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt 4 of FT Angst Week: Bleeding Out/ Bandages<br/>Gajeel knew that today wasn't going to be his day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Day

Gajeel knew that today wasn’t going to be his day.

He felt it the moment he woke up in the morning, as the sun shone just a little too brightly into his eyes and how his bed felt slightly warmer than usual, just enough so he didn’t want to leave. He felt it when his coffee tasted too bitter, even though he always drank it black, and when he stubbed his toe on the door frame as he and Lily entered the Council Headquarters.

Not one of the workers swarming the room outright laughed at him as he lurched forward and growled out a few too many curses for public. None of them were _that_ dumb, but he could hear the concealing coughs and the hissed breaths from behind masking hands. Even Pantherlily, in his fighting form and a whole head taller than the iron dragonslayer, was only brave enough to risk a snicker.

But one laugh did echo across the office, causing knowing grins to spread across too many faces for Gajeel’s liking, a soft sound, barely muffled by a small hand. Really, the shrimp should have more tact by now.

Levy McGarden. The blue haired Council Member who had, in an unprecedented manner, rapidly ascended through the ranks to Mission Officer in an astounding six months. It wasn’t the first time that she had defied all expectations to pull off an impossible stunt. No, the small braniac had also, _somehow_ , wormed her way into the iron dragonslayer’s steel cool heart.

But that was old news, and the file that Levy was holding in her hands appeared to be new.

“What ya got for us shrimp?” Gajeel grunted as he and Lily towered over the tiny girl.

Levy barely even batted an eyelash at the nickname anymore, and instead just handed the file to Gajeel.

“It’s just a simple recon mission,” she said with a smile. “So we only need you and Pantherlily to go.”

Gajeel huffed in amusement as he skimmed over the briefing before he passed it on to Lily, who was sure to give it a more thorough look over. As usual, Levy was right, the mission was easy. All it asked was for Gajeel and Pantherlily to check out the base of operations of a dark guild that had recently caught the attention of the newly formed council, Aviator or something. As stated, Pantherlily would be more thorough.

“So what yer sayin’ is that you’ve been saddled with another buttload of paperwork and are now confined to yer desk for another six hours,” Gajeel snorted and glanced at Levy for confirmation that he didn’t really need.

Instead of denying Gajeel’s assumption the Mission Officer scowled and gave him a weak shove.

“I don’t understand why you two get all the fun jobs and I’m left here with more reports to approve,” she began to walk back to her desk and, as Pantherlily finished reading the file, the two of them followed her. “But don’t be late back, okay? You promised to take me to the bar tonight!”

Pantherlily chuckled from beside Gajeel as he gently laid the file on Levy’s desk, and even Gajeel couldn’t help but give a small grin as he turned to leave. The shrimp had insisted on the three of them going out tonight, Pantherlily being her defence when others attempted to call it a ‘date’. Even so, several of their co-workers had money on how the night would turn out.

“Yeah, yeah,” Gajeel waved her off as he headed for the door, Pantherlily on two steps behind him. “I’ll see ya later shorty.”

Even as they left the room, Gajeel’s dragonslayer hearing picked up the sound of Levy’s huffed breath, probably from irritation, and Pantherlily’s snort of amusement. Gajeel let it slide for now, but the two of them were having words after they returned from the mission.

As Gajeel had expected, the mission was pretty simple. Finding the location of the dark guild, Avatar, as Pantherlily had already corrected him half a dozen times, had been easy, and, after a quick search around the building, Gajeel and Pantherlily had decided to split up. Patherlily had taken the right side of the dark and dreary castle, heading out towards an open plain where he had a clear view of the guild’s entrance. He would spend the rest of the day marking down numbers and descriptions of anyone who entered or left the building. Gajeel, on the other hand, headed towards the left of the guild and towards the back, where he would look for any secondary entrances or buildings before looping back to Pantherlily from the other side. It was a simple plan, one they used on a regular basis, and so, as he reached the rear of the castle, Gajeel had grown careless and stumbled into an ambush.

It was the moment when the first of them stepped out from behind the withered tree where he had been waiting that Gajeel had finally understood. This is what the universe had been trying to tell him all morning. And, as he sensed several others approach from behind him, he really wished that he had listened.

Gajeel would like to say that it had been a fierce battle, and in a way it had been. With the iron dragonslayer obviously outnumbered when several new adversaries burst from the second entrance that Gajeel had been looking for, just a little further ahead of him, he knew that he wouldn’t walk away unscathed. And in a moment of pure frustration he thought of Pantherlily, hunkered down on the other side of this bloody castle, completely unaware of what was about to happen.

And Gajeel really couldn’t help but think that he could’ve used the backup as he felt another knife slice across the skin of his back. He couldn’t stay standing against this many opponents and, eventually, the inevitable happened.

He was overwhelmed.

The guild was never known for its mercy and so, when the number of wounds that littered his body assured them that Gajeel wouldn’t get back up, they left him on the ground to bleed out slowly.

With his lungs heaving for breath and his heart beating at a furious pace only to drench the ground in his blood, Gajeel knew he didn’t have long. He had no way to contact Pantherlily, no way to warn him of the trap they had stumbled into, but that was no worry.

Gajeel may not be able to warn him, but he could save him.

With the last of his strength Gajeel limped to a tree and rested against it. Only a moment later he felt his knees buckle and hit the ground but that was fine, he supported his back against the trunk with stiff fingers he fumbled for his council issued mobile communication lacrima. Then he dialled the only number he had ever bothered to memorise.

_“Hello,”_ Levy’s voice rang in his ear and, even as his blood was being used to water the grass beneath him, he felt himself relax slightly. _“This is Levy McGarden speaking.”_

“Hey shrimp,” Gajeel muttered into the speaker. “I need a favour.”

He heard a sharp intake of breath and, for a moment, he could feel Levy forcibly stop herself from sprouting a dozen questions at him.

_“What do you need?”_

“An evac team,” Gajeel said and winced as one of the stab wounds on his side throbbed. “Lily’s in danger and I need him out now.”

_“Location?”_ Levy asked and Gajeel could hear the rustling of papers and stomping of feet as Levy immediately did as he asked.

“East side of the Avatar headquarters,” Gajeel said and rubbed a palm across his eyes.

Damnit. His vision was growing blurry.

_“Right,”_ Levy replied. _“I’m having Doranbolt teleport the team over, are you with Lily?”_

This was it, this was the moment he could ask for help and Levy would send it in a blink. No questions asked.

But he couldn’t put his partner at risk. At least one of them had to leave here alive.

“Yeah, right by him,” Gajeel huffed and felt his shoulders finally relax.

Lily would be safe.

_“Okay, we’re headed out! Just don’t do anything dumb in the meantime, that’s an order!”_

“Of course, Mission Officer,” he said before he was cut off by the disconnect tone in the commination lacrima.

He could feel the weight of his eyelids growing heavier and heavier and for a single moment he prayed. He prayed that she knew what she meant to him.

_‘I’ll be waiting.’_

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys... Sorry for the terribly long wait. I have no excuses and there are none suitable so I will just leave you with a promise. This series will definitely be finished! Everything is nearly typed out and you should see more updates in the coming days.


End file.
